Confusion from longing
by Sir Mad of Hatter
Summary: She looks exactly like his old friend from his brief time at the Air Temple, but should that not be completely impossible? His mind wanders, and he wonders if she somehow got away all those years ago.


He still remembers her name as if someone had screamed it into his ears a million times the past couple of days. Nilaa, one of the finest air nomads he used to know from his brief life at the great air temple where he grew up, and one of his best friends. He likes to think back to the good times he had with her before he left his people to the hounds.

_"Hey, Aang! I just made a new game; do you want to try it?"_

_"What's it about?"_

_"It's called cloudball. Basically, you get in the middle of a ring of clouds, I take a ball and get into the clouds and then I kick the ball towards you, and you have to catch it, if you miss it or drop it, you lose."_

_Aang thought about it. Nilaa always had the wackiest ideas of fun, and many of the other younger aspiring air benders often teased her about her wacky ideas. Aang usually kept his quiet about it; he tried avoiding admitting that Nilaa's 'wacky ideas' were actually a whole lot of fun. She was like a young female version of Gyatso._

_"Sure!"_

Nilaa and Aang were almost inseparable at that time. She had always meant a lot to him, of course at that age it had been more brotherly meant. When he grew up, he soon found that he actually had feelings for her. He never told anyone, but he suspected that Gyatso knew at the time, due to the constant tease he exposed Aang to.

One of the things he found extremely confusing was how he never recovered her remains from the air temple. She wore specials robes she had sewn herself, and Aang would easily be able to recognize them. In his mind, he liked to think that she had made it away before the Fire Nation attacked.

Aang does have something for Katara, he knows that, and yet it feels like he's betraying Nilaa for some extremely odd reason. He mentally noted that he should ask Roku how in the name of the four nations that worked.

And as if that wasn't enough to confuse him, suddenly _she_ steps into the picture; the acrobatic girl from the fire nation with the long braid: Ty Lee. She looked exactly like Nilaa, just without the traditional air bender tattoos, and with a more physically mature body. She even sounded like her when she spoke. Aang silently wondered if it was possible that Nilaa had made it to the Fire Nation and settled down there, blending in with the population.

Aang found himself thinking long into the night if there was any way he could convince Ty Lee that what she was fighting for was wrong and if he could coax her to join his group. He desperately wanted to see her, even if she wasn't a relative of Nilaa's, the fact that she had physical attributes that reminded him so much of her made his heart ache with pain.

He could feel his insides throwing Katara to the side to make room for this girl he barely knew, just because she reminded him of a long lost friend that may or may not have survived a Fire Nation attack. Did he love her? One voice yelled _"NO! SHE'S FROM THE FIRE NATION, SHE'S JUST ANOTHER MURDERER.", _he heard another voice that said _"Yes! She deserves a chance. Do it for Nilaa."_ And finally a third voice simply and passively said _"Maybe you do."_

Despite the arguments of the two first voices, he was more inclined to believe in the third voice. Maybe, just maybe, he could get her to see the wrong in her doings and get her to join him.

The next day he saw her again, and he saw a necklace made out of a mineral that had been exclusive to the three of the four air temples. Aang remembers that he, with the help of Gyatso of course, cutted a necklace out of the exact same mineral and gave it to Nilaa. The shapes that he had cut into the necklace he had made were on Ty Lee's as well. He wished he could turn the necklace around and see if there was an inscription on it. He had written something on his version of the necklace.

_"My gift to you, Nilaa. Take care."_

He would have to find a way to get her to join him soon, or he would explode.


End file.
